


Lessons from the Teaching Stone

by atamascolily



Category: The Adventures of Sinbad (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Gen, Light Angst, Lots of headcanons in one place
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 03:44:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12182250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atamascolily/pseuds/atamascolily
Summary: After the events of 1x12 "The Village Vanishes," Sinbad reflects on some of Master Dim-Dim's lessons, with the aid of his teaching stone.





	Lessons from the Teaching Stone

From a distance, it was a dull, grey stone, hardly worthy of special attention - granite, perhaps, with tiny flecks of something shiny only visible close up or with one of Firouz's special lenses that magnified the invisible. It wasn't even round - it was as if someone had taken a sphere and then compressed one side into a concave arc, so it fit perfectly against Sinbad's thumb when he closed it around his hand. It balanced nicely there, worn smooth and glistening in the light, the imprint of a flower carved into both sides in deep grooves. He held it often, particularly at night when the seas were calm and the vast arc of the heavens spilled out above him, lost in his own thoughts and in the memories and images the stone stirred up within him. 

It was the only possession of Dim-Dim's he had. Maeve had taken the books and talismans he'd left behind on the ship when he vanished, as befitted her status as his last apprentice. It was only fair - she knew how to use them. And certainly Sinbad had the memories of their time together, and all the valuable lessons he had learned from that wise old magician, but this was the only tangible reminder of he had of the man who had raised him, and he cherished it. Cha

When the stone had unexpectedly re-appeared in his life, during what should have been a routine trading visit in the port of Salma, he hadn't recognized it at first. As his fingers gripped round the stone, though, he was no longer standing in the busy streets, bantering with Asillah the Merchant's servant boy - he was a child again, in the courtyard of Dim-Dim's dwelling by the sea, reciting the names of the stars above. " _Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez,_ " he chanted, while the old man beamed at him. " _Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid._ "

"And who are they?" Dim-Dim asked him cheerfully. In the distance, they could hear the waves against the shore as the tide shifted. During the day, there was too much noise, but at night, things quieted down and Sinbad fell asleep each night with the sea roaring in his ears, a soothing lullaby. But tonight, they were studying the stars. "An important subject for all young men to know, especially those who would navigate by them!" Dim-Dim had proclaimed at dinner that night, making wide sweeping gestures with his hands while Sinbad and Doubar wolfed down their food (especially Doubar). "They have stories and much wisdom to share with us, my boy, if only we have the time to look up and pay attention to them!"

"Four of them are the coffin. The other three are the maidens that carry it," Sinbad said without hesitation. "The Greeks call it part of a big bear whom their god Zeus carried into heaven to save it from a hunt - but I think the Maidens are prettier," he added as an aside. 

"Can you see Mizar's companion?" 

"Yes - Alcor. Together, they are the Horse and Rider. Can't you see them, Master Dim-Dim?" 

Dim-Dim chuckled. Of all the people Sinbad had ever met throughout his strange and varied life, none of them had ever laughed as much as Dim-Dim had. He laughed constantly, but it was never mocking or cruel - just the purest expression of joy Sinbad had ever heard. "No, I can't. I'm getting old! Seeing Alcor is a test of vision and one I'm failing these days more often than not." 

"Aren't you sad about that?" Sinbad asked wistfully, staring at his beloved master, wondering for the first time what his life might be like if Dim-Dim were to die. 

Dim-Dim tousled Sinbad's hair affectionately. As usual, he seemed to know exactly what Sinbad was thinking. "Don't you worry about _that_ , my lad. I'll be with you for a long time yet. Tell me," he said, deftly changing the subject, "Why are the Maidens and the Coffin - since the name of 'Great Bear' does not appeal to you - so important?" 

"The whole sky revolves around them," Sinbad answered without hesitation, gripping the stone tightly in his palm. 

"Why is that so important?" 

"As long as you can see them - as long as you know where they are in the sky - you can find north. You can find your way home." 

"Good work, my boy. That's enough for tonight. Give me the stone and we'll go in and call it a night. No doubt your brother Doubar is already sleeping. Good lad." 

Sinbad did as he was bid. "Master Dim-Dim?" He asked, as the two drew near the door. 

"Yes, Sinbad?" 

"Why do I have to hold the stone when I recite for you?" 

"The stone helps you remember, Sinbad. The stone is there to help you learn. When you hold the stone, you can see what others have seen when they held the stone. You can hear what they heard as well, though it depends on what the stone will show you. I received that stone from my master," he said fondly, "and someday, perhaps, you will pass it along to someone else in turn." 

"Isn't that cheating?" 

Now Dim-Dim really did laugh. "Hardly, my boy. Think of it as friendly voice in the back of your head, reminding you of what's tantalizingly close on the edge of your memory. That's what I use it for most these days. It's like having a friend with you, someone who has your back and will never let you down. It's not cheating to ask your friends for help, Sinbad. Not when you really need it." 

\--and he'd snapped back into the present, into that marketplace in Salma, and he realized that somehow, no matter how improbable, the stone in his hand was the same stone he had clasped so tightly on that day in the past, that the stone had helped him remember that very scene he had just relived in his own mind. _How...?_

The note accompanying the stone had almost been an afterthought. In perfectly lettered script, it read: 

_Sinbad,_

_Please come urgently to the village pinpointed on this map with the stone of Dim-Dim's. Do not reveal the contents of the map or the stone to anyone. Upon reaching the village, do not tell anyone there who you are searching for. Be very careful. Trust no one._

There was no signature. 

Was it a trap? He didn't know. The stone, though - that was real. Impossible to fake, at least by any magic he knew. So he trusted it. He would have gone anyway, just to uncover the mystery of how his beloved teacher's possessions - a teacher who had been imprisoned by dark magic into a different dimension - had somehow ended up here in Salma. It must be Dim-Dim who had sent the note, or who had at least been nearby, who had agreed to send it as a token so Sinbad would come. It must be. What other explanation was there? Disregarding the instructions, he'd shown it to Doubar and Maeve. They recognized it instantly, just as he had, once they held it in their hands - who knows what visions it had shown them - and agreed with him. 

As it turned out, it _was_ a trap - a trick by the monstrous Vorgon to lure Sinbad into his territory so he could steal the sailor's form and take his ship from town to town, devouring thousands of souls in the process. Sinbad didn't regret going for a moment - they'd escaped alive, although it had been touch and go for a few minutes there towards the end, and they'd saved an entire village from a merciless monster and ended the monster's reign of terror besides. But it had hurt, more than he'd thought possible to have his hopes dashed like that, to realize that, in the end, Dim-Dim wasn't there, wasn't coming back. At least not right away, anyway. 

He remembered the moment where he thought he'd found Dim-Dim in that village - an old man curled up on a bed, clearly sick, his face turned away from the door. He remembered how his heart leapt, and he rushed to the bedside, only to discover it wasn't Dim-Dim after all, but an elderly villager who had never heard of the magician in his life. His pain at that disappointment had been eclipsed by the traumas that followed - the disappearance of the villagers, his crew and his beloved brother Doubar, not to mention nearly losing his own life fighting a practically (but fortunately not entirely) immortal monster. But once all the chaos was all over and everyone was safe again, he'd had to grapple with that failure, yet again. 

How, though, had the Vorgon gotten the stone in the first place? How had he known the exact thing that would lure Sinbad straight to him? He'd killed the creature before they'd had a chance to have that conversation, though - he'd had other things on his mind at the time, like survival and getting his crew back in one piece. So the mystery remained. Perhaps you didn't get live for a thousand years without picking up a few tricks. Maybe Dim-Dim could tell him. When they found him - when they - 

Abruptly, Sinbad closed his eyes, fighting back tears. "I will find you, Master Dim-Dim," he whispered. "I will bring you back. I will. I will." 

Not everybody could be saved - goodness knows, he'd lost crew and loved ones alike before as a result of his mistakes - but perhaps with Dim-Dim, he could get a second chance. Perhaps someday he would see his old master again, and they could laugh and speak the name of the stars they way they had done together when he was a child. He'd saved everybody from the Vorgon, after they had been sucked away out of reach, turning grey and vanishing like ghosts before his eyes. He had brought them back. He could bring Dim-Dim back, too. 

Or at least he would try his damndest in the process.

**Author's Note:**

> I had thought that the stone's powers were explicitly stated in 1x12 "The Village Vanishes" but then I realized upon a re-watch that I had headcanoned them into existence because everyone would hold the stone and pause before they recognized it. Never mind; it's much more awesome this way, don't you think? 
> 
> The text of the letter is visible in [screenshots](http://www.farfarawaysite.net/sinbad/season1/1012/photo1.htm) from that episode, although it contradicts what Sinbad claims it says elsewhere. As usual, I've come up with an acceptable (to me, anyway) explanation for that discrepancy. 
> 
> The star names that Sinbad recites are what we know as the Big Dipper, an asterism that's part of the Great Bear constellation. Technically, the stars revolve around Polaris, which is in the Little Dipper, but can be kinda hard to pick out since it's not very bright (especially when you don't have access to Firouz's magniscope). The Big Dipper is much easier to spot and close enough to get you where you need to go. 
> 
> I'm not 100% sure what stars are visible in and around the latitudes of the Middle East so I have held off making the decision about where Sinbad actually lives as a child until I figure that out, which is why the details are so vague at this point.


End file.
